• The People, their stories
  A corner of a foreign field that is forever England
• Low frequency sound waves to trap ghosts
• Was this the fifth dimension?
• If El Nino is ending, can La Nina be far behind?
• Book Review
  Kithunu Subashithaya
• Diamond Jubilee of St. Helen's Church

In 1914, W. C. Ingles, the Acting Surveyor General, at the request of the Government Agent, Kandy, furnished a plan of the Kandy Garrison Cemetery. He listed 163 graves. The cemetery was surveyed by H. D. Smith in May of that year. A cemetery. Yes, tucked away between the present Law Courts and the verdant slopes of Udawattekelle, is this small field of rest. A field that is forever England, where bones moulder and where those who came to tend these near forgotten mounds, found the silver buckles of gallant uniforms and a hush that is laden with memory.

The gates creak, and the rains have made the earth clayey. Inside, among the mushroom mounds, the raised stone tablets and tables, one man works with a team of masons and labourers. This is his story and also the story of Durand Goonetilleke, a Trustee of St. Paul's Church, Kandy. There is something so solemn, so heartwarming in the manner of their work, their dedication, and it was with some emotion that I considered Charles Carmichael, the cemetery's present-day caretaker, his work clothes specked with mud, his hands grimy, as he squatted beside the railed grave of Lady Elizabeth Gregory, wife of Ceylon's Governor from 1872-77, the Rt. Hon. William Henry Gregory.

Carmichael was constructing a drain, a drain that would run beside the concrete and barbed-wire fence. He rose, smiled, and did not seem to mind the state he was in. 'Trying to make things shipshape here,' he smiled. Later, he said, 'I simply love this place. It is such an important part of our history - Kandy's history.'

There's no doubt about that. Somehow, this little bit of earth is so precious to the story of this island, and somehow, sadly enough, it has known indifference, disuse, even abuse and contempt. Before I give you Durand's and Charles' story, I would like to offer this passage from Autobiography of a Periya Dorai, quoted in J. Penry Lewis' excellent compilation of List of Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon of Historical or Local Interest with an Obituary of Persons Uncommemorated. This work, published in 1913, is a lasting record of so much life that came, saw, lived and died here. This, our island, was truly a theatre, and even as the curtain rose and fell, oh, so many times down the centuries, the shades remain. We will find the graves, the tombs of so many - not just in Kandy but in churchyards and graveyards wall over the island. How much has stood here, fallen here - young, old, men, women, their children, full of that lust for life that drew them ever to distant shores, gallants, freebooters, adventurers, artists, writers, soldiers and scholars. The dry pages of history may record their entrances and their exits but now, in the clutch of this rich earth, I wondered: Do they still continue to weave the grand tapestry of their existence, fulfilled or unfulfilled?

This is what Lewis quoted of Kandy's Garrison Cemetery:
There is above the lake of Kandy a small oblong plot of cleared ground bordered on three sides by rank jungle, and covered with equally rank weeds and trailing grasses. In this plot of ground there are a few tombstones sparsely scattered. There are more black headboards marking the resting places of the departed, and telling the name and date of their death. There are, however, a far larger number of low mounds which tell no tale beyond a sad one that the remains of some stranger rest beneath. This is the European graveyard of Kandy. A stranger visiting this spot would be charmed at the magnificent scenery which surrounds it. The silvery waters of the lake lap the shore just below, whilst the city itself, with its marrying and giving in marriage, its din and tumult, lies a few hundreds of yards to the west. Across the lake, the wooded slopes of the Mahapatana crowded with English bungalows rise some thousands of feet in the skies, whilst the Hantane mountains slope gently down into the Peradeniya plain, and the distant summits of Alagalla, Batalakanda, and Lapulakanda close in the view on the far-off horizon. In its lonely spot - for it is lonely, notwithstanding its near proximity to the great city - lie many hundreds of kindly Scots, who, cut off in the very prime and vigour of the manhood, sleep the sleep which knows no waking, under the rank weds and wiry grasses which cover their neglected graves. Many a sad tale of hardship, agony and pain could the tenants of these nameless graves tell were they permitted to speak.

Few of them had any kind friend or neighbour near to comfort them in their last sad agony, to place even a glass of cool water to their parched and buming tongue, or to speak word of comfort to their often troubled mind. Left to the care of native servants, many of these young men died friendless and neglected in some distant jungle bungalow, from fever, from cholera, diarrhoea, or dysentery.

The brandy bottle finished many of them, for, as Anthony Trollope justly remarks, there is no other solace at hand to cheer loneliness of the wild jungle life, and there are but few minds so constituted as to take kindly to the history of England and other equally recondite subjects of improving literature. Many were brought into the Kandy hotels in a dying condition, but their fate was not much improved by the change. Possibly a fellow painter might be at hand to look in and see the dying man. But what could be do for him in his ignorance and helplessness in everything connected with the sick bed?

Lewis commented that, 'There is no doubt some exaggeration here both as to numbers and the circumstances attending the deaths of the 'kindly Scots'. It can hardly be the case that there are hundreds of them buried here uncommemorated; the registers do not bear this out. The statement would be correct as to numbers if it referred to privates of British Regiments and their wives and children. In 1824, for instance, there were 108 of these burials, in 1825 there were 50, in 1826, 29, and in 1827, 23. There are about a dozen tombs of the 'table' tomb pattern, from which the name plates have disappeared, which probably date from the twenties and thirties. The register goes back to 1822, in which year, doubtless, the cemetery was opened.'

As Durand said, many of the original subscribers of St. Paul's Church, Kandy, lie buried here. 'In the Colonial days, there was always a caretaker here, and the then Administration maintained the cemetery. It is a real shame that, after Independence, this expenditure was struck off the budgets of both the Government Agent and the Kandy Municipality. That's when the neglect began. This place was left to run down. And what could anyone do? This is Crown property. We, at St. Paul's, used our own funds to at least keep it tidy from time to time. We would come here to weed and clear the undergrowth, but it seemed that nobody in authority showed any real interest. This is such a tragedy, for as you can see, there is history here, so precious to our island that it must be a very crass and unfeeling nation that can allow it to go to ruin. This is our Colonial heritage and whatever has been said or done and whatever the spirit of nation that surges now, how can we trample on these, the dead of those nations who still help and assist us?'

A point well made to be sure, for Kandy still honours the Imperial past, even to the Victoria Dam! (And that is no construction of the Colonial era, surely!)

Charles is not really caught up in the politics of this neglect and urban abuse. He works among the gravestones with nothing but love. He's a Burgher, thinks and acts as a true son of the land and wishes nothing more than that sense of satisfaction that he is adding to the historic glory of Kandy. He has no thought for the rain, the mud. All he wants to do is make this graveyard a well-ordered and lasting reminder of all it stands for in this island's story.

In 1988, when Canon Harold de Mel took charge of St. Paul's, he said that his strangest task was to look after the Garrison Cemetery. 'I had never seen it,' he had admitted, 'although it was only about 200 yards away from the Vicarage, because it was completely hidden at the edge of Udawattekelle, a little beyond the Maligawa.' Canon de Mel was certain that this cemetery was opened in 1822 because, as he said. 'Before that, the burial of Europeans took place in the graveyard just above Lady Longden's Drive, on a cocoa estate.'

Charles led me to perhaps the most famous grave of all - that of Sri John D'Oyly. Yes, there it stood, a broken fluted column of masonry with marble tablet:

In memory of The Hon'ble Sir John D'Oyly, Bart., Resident of the Kandyan Provinces and one of the members of His Majesty's Council of this island whose meritorious services to the Government from the year 1802 and his talents during the Kandyan War stand recorded in the archives of this Government and in the Office of the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Born June 11th, 1774, Died at Kandy May 25th 1824 aged 49 years.

He was the 2nd son of he Revd. Matthias D'Oyly, late Archdeacon of Lewes in Sussex, and this memorial is erected by his three surviving brothers.

There is little need to tell of the story of this man to whom even our famed Matara poetess, Gajaman Nona, dedicated a set of verses. He became, as history tells us, a true European native of this country, fluent in Sinhala, and, on October 1, 1816, became the Resident and First Commissioner of he Board of Commissioners appointed to administer the affairs of the Kandyan Provinces. He is known so well for his Sketch of the Constitution of the Kandyan Kingdom, and, as his contemporaries said of him, 'a Cinglaese hermit... a native in his hadbits of life... uncouth, recluse.'

Do we allow so great a 'Sinhalese European' to lie, his grave threatened by weeds and thorns? Charles said that at one time a block of land adjacent to the cemetery was granted to the Trustees. 'The idea was that we extend the cemetery, but suddenly the Municipality clamped down and prevented the new block from being used. I remember, the Trustees even appealed to the Colonial Governor, but nothing came of it.'

'And then,' said Durand, taking up the story, 'There was the inevitable encroachment. We even went to Courts, but to no avail. Eventually on the promise given us by the GA that the Trustees will be given good title to the original cemetery, we had to surrender the block which had been given for extension. The problem now is to get this place into shape, and we owe much to the British Embassy and so many well-wishers.'

It was decided last year that, with the impending visit of Prince Charles to Kandy, (which did not occur) the cemetery should be well-maintained. Indeed, it was to be one of the places Prince Charles would surely see. 'Lieutenant Colonel Tim O'Downell of the British Embassy allocated Rs.600,000. This really gave us the fillip we needed, and we have begun restoration with a will,' Durand said.

The old Chapel of Rest, where Charles is presently quartered, is also being brought back to its original form. Durand showed me the gifts of chairs and other furnishings given by donors. 'We are making of this a place where people may come, think upon the past, remember old days of joy and sorrow. We will have here, that all may know, the stories, the histories of all who lie here each earthly interlude, so to say, with its commas and semi-colons and that final full stop.'

'What is necessary is the preservation of the tombs and mounments,' Charles said, 'and I'm doing the best I can. First, the whole lie of the land needs attention. The Chapel has to be a place fit for cemetery officials with quarters for someone who will attend to the weeding, the maintenance of flower beds, see that this is transformed into a beautiful, peaceful and truly historic part of Kandy. It's an eyesore now. Even the road needs to be maintained.'

'And you will do all this?'

He smiled. 'I'm doing all I can now. So much more is possible, but we need the funds. All we can hope for is that people help us. The true lovers of Kandy.'

Durand said that St. Paul's had set up a Kandy Garrison Cemetery Fund and that a Restoration Committee had been formed. 'Many of our Church members have offered materials and help.' He mentioned two persons, Jenniffer Blacker of Madapatha and Christopher Worthington of Pupuressa, who were very active and most committed.

As I see it, there is a real need to make this cemetery a beautiful part of our Colonial heritage, something we must all strive for. The Kandy Kachcheri has listed 130 graves but there are 33 others as well. Here lies Captain James McGlashan, decorated at Waterloo. He it was who was exchanged with Captain Charles Direberb and entered the 1st Ceylon Regiment in 1817. Stricken with malarial fever he was tended in Kandy by Henry Marshall, author of Ceylon: A General Description of the Island and its Inhabitants, but Captain James did not survive.

Here also lies the infant sons, Neale and Charles, of captain Joseph Swinburne of the 83rd Regiment... and Captain John Manwaring of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment who, in 1815, captured the rebel Muttusami at Teldeniya. Let me list some of the others:

' Captain J. P. Lardy of the 78th Highlanders, a man who was asked by Governor Sir Edward Barnes to explore the Mahaweli Ganga.

' James Tate, grandson of Gampola's resthouse keeper, John Tate, the man who was able to persuade Sir Emerson Tennent to remain in Ceylon and not accept the Governorship of St. Helena.

' Eliza Ann, second daughter of Lieutenatnt Colonel G. Phillpotts, who was one of those who originated and prepared the plan of St. Paul's Kandy.

' John Spottiswoode Robertson, the Seventh and last European to be killed by an elephant.

' Reverend James Smith, first Presbyterian Minister at Kandy.

' Sara Bury, the first lady resident on the Haputale estates.

' Alice Capel Le Marchand, wife of the manager of Kandy's Mercantile Bank.

' Philip Fincham, who gave his name to Fincham's Land in Dumbara.

' Mark John Hill, infant son of Dr. George Washington Sprott, who was Chaplain of Scot's Kirk, Kandy, 1859-66.

' James MacEwen, who managed the Kandy branch of the Oriental Bank Corporation.

' David Findlay, killed in 1861 when his house collapsed. The house was originally owned by Moligoda Adigar and later became the property of Advocate J. A. Dunuwille.

' Lieutenant General John Frazer, Colonel of the 37th Regiment. He it was who pursued the third Pilima Talawa into Kurunegala and Nuwarakalaviya. Best known for the 205-ft single arch satinwood bridge he built to span the Mahaveli at Peradeniya. Major Skinner described the bridge as very graceful 'without a nail or bolt in it.' It was replaced by the iron bridge in 1905. Frazer lived in 'Frazer Lodge', Kandy and, because of his severity, was called 'Cheeta Frazer' by the Kandyans.

' Margaret Jessie, wife of William Northway, who was Ceylon's first sugar planter on Sir Edward Barnes' estate at Gannoruwa.

' Wiliam Robert Lyte, Grandson of Rev. Henry Francis Lyte, the man who wrotethe famous hymn, 'Abide With Me.'

' William Charles Macready, who in 1865, published an English translation of the Selalihini Sandesa.

So many... soldiers, planters, statesmen... Durand, Charles and I looked around. It was mellowing and as the afternoon gave way to the cool of the evening, I could only think of this little corner where, as the hymn says, 'fast falls the even tide.' There is so much we need to do to keep the dead alive. It ill behoves us to turn our backs on them, for at the going down of the sun each day we must surely remember them.

Ghosts, ghouls and spectres may have a scientific explanation after all - and it is not all in the mind. New research into a real-like haunting has revealed that all the classic signs of ghosts can be explained as the result of very low frequency sound waves trapped inside buildings.

Capable of being triggered by nothing more than the wind passing over walls, the sound waves cannot be heard. But scientific tests have revealed that they have effects on the human body that can account for the wraith-like appearance of ghosts and even the feelings of cold and terror that accompany them.

The explanation emerged after a chance discovery by a university academic who found himself personally involved in a haunting, late one night in the laboratory of a medical manufacturing company based in the Midlands.

Vic Tandy, an expert in computer-assisted learning at Coventry University, had been told that the building was haunted, but dismissed it as a joke. He changed his mind after the events that unfolded one night as he worked alone in the office.

'As I sat at the same desk writing, I began to feel increasingly uncomfortable,' he recalls. 'I was sweating but cold and the feeling of depression was noticeable - but there was also something else. It was as though something was in the room with me.

'Then I became aware that I was being watched, and a figure slowly emerged to my left. It was indistinct and on the periphery of my vision, but it moved just as I would expect a person to. It was grey, and made no sound. The hair was standing up on the back of my neck - I was terrified.'

Mr. Tandy plucked up courage to look at the apparition face on - only to see it fade and then vanish. 'I decided I must be cracking up, and went home.'The explanation emerged the following morning. Mr. Tandy, a fencing enthusiast, was modifying one of his foils and had left the blade clamped in a vice while he went in search of oil.

'When I returned, I noticed that the free end of the blade was frantically vibrating up and down.' Mr. Tandy, a trained engineer, realised that the blade might be receiving energy from very low frequency sound waves filling the laboratory - so low that they could not be heard.

Tests duly revealed the existence of a 'standing wave' trapped in the laboratory, which reached a peak in intensity next to Mr. Tandy's desk. 'It turned out to be caused by a new extraction fan, which was making the air vibrate at about 19 cycles per second. When the fan's mounting was altered, the ghost left with the standing wave.'.

Working with Dr. Tony Lawrence of the university's school of health, Mr. Tandy has now discovered the significance of this rate of vibration. In research published in the latest issue of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, they reveal that 'infra-sound' around this frequency has been linked to a whole host of physiological effects - including breathlessness, shivering and feelings of fear.

Most significantly, research by Nasa, the American space agency, has shown that the human eyeball has a resonant frequency of 18 cycles a second, at which it starts to vibrate in sympathy to infra-sound. 'This would cause a serious smearing of vision,' says Dr. Lawrence.

While acoustic experts have known about the health effects of infra-sound for many years, until now no one has made the link to ghosts. Mr. Tandy said that he has since come across two more 'hauntings' where low-fre quency sound may be to blame: 'One occurred in a corridor of a building that had a wind tunnel in the basement, and it was operating at the time of the sighting.'

He added, however, that the wind blowing over a window in a side wall of a long corridor might be enough to create a standing wave, similar to that formed by blowing over the neck of a bottle. 'It would be interesting to look at reports of haunted houses, to see if the 'ghosts' tend to appear in long, windy corridors.'

The discovery of the infrasound effect is already creating a stir among experts in paranormal phenomena. 'It is very interesting, as it gives us anothr scientific variable we can fit into the picture,' said professor David Fontana of the University of Cardiff, a former president of the Society of Psychical Research.

Professor Fontana insisted, however, that infrasound was unlikely to be the final answer. 'It cannot explain those cases where there is some interaction between the person and the apparition - as there is with poltergeists for example,' he said. 'The problem is that whenever you get a potential explanation like this, you find that there is a whole lot of things it cannot account for.'

I was told I would hear the Sound of the Universe from the Eight Corners of Heaven; that I could explore the Power of Sacred Sound Improvisation; that I could create the music of Eleven Spheres in chimes tuned to the orbital frequencies of the Heavenly Bodies; that I could take a relaxing primal journey with the aid of gongs, temple bells and Singing Bell Bowls. In a word, I was invited to a meeting of the Mysterious Tremendrum Consort in Downtown Manhattan.

Of course, I agreed to go. Who wouldn't?

My friend and I went down by subway and walked along until we came to a discreet gray building like any other block of lofts in the Tribeca area. Up on the third floor, we stopped at a gray painted door, like anyother door of a New York apartment.

We knocked, and in a moment it was opened. There stood a stocky man like any other man, but oh boy! Was he dressed like no other man I've seen in that town or any other, as a matter of fact.

He wore a psychedelic shirt of violent hues, emblazoned with a huge sun-like disc in bright yellow. Instead of pants, he had draped round his waist, a short colourful cloth hitched up on the right side.

"Come on in", he said, smiling widely.

At least the smile was normal.

"People haven't arrived yet", he went on. "You know, the Feminine Awareness meeting is not finished".

I looked at my friend. That could take some time, I was sure.

"Let's go and have a cup of coffee", I said.

"Yes, there's the Bodega at the corner. You can come back in a while", said the man cheerily and closed the door.

When we went back half an hour later, the meeting was over and the group we were to meet had begun drifting in. I was introduced to Ben, the leader, an expert on the gong and his wife Renee, who was an adept at the copper bowls and conch shells. They looked very charming people.

There were carpets covering the floor and a minimum of furniture. We were now about twenty, and were told to sit in a circle.

I looked round interestedly. The men were boring - I mean in attire - but the women made up for it. One of them wore a revealing black top and loose baggy black trousers in some diaphanous material made even more exotic by being slit all the way up the sides. Her head band was covered with beads and a shiny silver belt completed a very original ensemble.

Another wore a red sari draped so that it revealed more than it concealed, combined with a minuscule choli. Her brown hair hung loosely down her back, and a shiny anklet was on her left foot.

Many of the women sported scarves wrapped loosely round their bodies. As a foil to all this exotic costuming, were a couple of over-weight women in down-to-earth office suits and myself in very ordinary street clothes.

We waited with eager expectancy. The lights were dimmed. Someone stood up, lit a candle and placed it on a low stool in the middle of the room. Another went round with basket filled with a all sorts of percussion instruments - there were small drums, tambourines, cymbals, bells and wooden rattles. In the middle of the floor were placed some large instruments - big drums like our geta-bera and long wooden flutes of various sizes.

I picked a small pair of cymbals which I knew would not obtrude too much.

Now, without any introduction, Ben stepped forward with a huge gong. We waited in silence. He raised his right hand which held a padded beater and tapped the gong gently. A soft mellifluous sound rose into the air. It spoke of the gentle lapping of waves on the sea-shore; of leaves rustling in the wind and gurling waters in a brook. Before the sound faded away, he tapped it again, a little harder this time, and again and again, each time connecting one resonance with the other in a rising crescendo, until the room was filled with gigantic waves of sound running endlessly into one another.

Now it was a primeval sea churning round a yet unborn universe. Sounds collided and drifted away into streams of star-material. It was a veritable enactment of Genesis.

I could see how easy it would be to fall into a trance. With difficulty I kept my eyes open, determined to observe and not be drawn into this phantasmagoria of sound. But in spite of myself, I felt the resonance filling every corner and crevice of my body. Then it seemed as if something broke through its confines and I became merged with the sound-waves that enveloped everything in the room. Seconds stretched into eons.

Then Ben stopped, and the sounds began to recede, disappearing behind the staircase, under the sofas and through every aperture in the room.

As I felt the sounds being drawn out of my body, Renee began to blow long blasts on the conch-shells. The young man who had picked up a flute began to improvise, and one by one, people began to join in on whatever instrument they had, following some unseen conductor. I tentatively tapped my cymbals, then clashed them a little more violently. No one seemed to care about anyone or anything.

By now, the atmosphere had taken on a trance-like quality. The woman in black stood up, and with her eyes closed, abandoned herself to a voluptuous dance, swaying like a reed in the wind. The two suited women lay flat on the floor, beatific smiles on their faces. The effect of this mixture of sounds was amazing.

Twenty people making twenty different sounds together - breaking every known rule of harmony and rhythm - how could they sound anything but discordant?

The funny thing was - they did not. It was a collective sound that sweemed to follow contrapuntal rules of some higher dimension. There was nothing jarring or out of place. There was melody, rhythm and harmony that I could not put down in notation if I tried. Was it really the Spontaneous Sacred Sound they had promised?

One by one, as if to some unseen signal, we stopped playing until a lone flute remained, searching its way along some other-wordly scale. We sat silent, bound together in some mysterious way by those harmonies.

Then Ben spoke, in a soft voice I could barely hear. It seemed like a quiet cadence to the sounds we had just heard, an invocation, a prayer to some Power to heal all those present in the room.

When the lights came on, and people started to pass biscuits around, it felt like a terrible anti-climax.

Hard-headed as I am, I walked away that night with the feeling that something tremendous had happened - that for a few moments I may have heard the Music of the Spheres.

Washington(AP) - Just when you thought the El Nino weather problems were easing, the climate could be heading into its also threatening opposite, La Nina.The world Meteorological Organization reported that El Nino "is in its dying stages" but said there is much uncertainty about how long it has left.

The US government's top forecasters issued their latest El Nino update at the White House, accompanied by Vice President Al Gore; James Lee Witt, who runs the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

An analysis by government scientists has found recordbreaking global temperatures in each of the first five months of 1998. During those months, the average global surface temperature was slightly above the average for the benchmark period of 1961 to 1990.

Gore, noting the temperature records, said "it appears that this general warming trend is making the effects of El Nino worse. This is a reminder once again that global warming is real and that unless we act we can expect more extreme weather in the years ahead."

Meanwhile, climate and weather experts are waiting and wondering what is going to happen in the Pacific Ocean, which can greatly effect conditions around the world.

Indeed, the National Centre for Atmospheric Research will serve as host for the world's first summit devoted to La Nina, El Nino's less-studied counterpart, July 15-17.

El Nino occurs when the eastern Pacific Ocean near the coast of South American becomes unusually warm. That warm water generates rising moist air which can disrupt the powerful jet stream high in the atmosphere, resulting in changes in weather around the world.

In La Nina, this pool of water cools below normal, a change that also affects air patterns but is less well understood.

Like its counterpart, La Nina tends to be strongest during the Northern Hemisphere winter, and it typically lasts one to two years.

After an El Nino the climate usually returns to normal, not always swinging into the La Nina condition. In the past 20 years there have been only three La Ninas, compared to seven El Ninos.

El Nino was named more than a century ago by Peruvian fishermen who tend to first notice its effects around Christmas time. The name is Spanish for "little boy," referring to the Baby Jesus. The La Nina phase remained unnamed until the mid-1980s, when it was given the name meaning "little girl."

Rt. Rev. Dr. W. L. A. Don Peter, the greatest Catholic scholar, writer and historian living in Sri Lanka today, has released a poem of 100 verses titled 'Kithunu Subashithaya'. It is modelled on 'Subhashitahaya', the famous poem in the Portuguese times written by the great poet Alagiyavanna. 'Kithunu Subashithaya' deals with the basic teachings in Christianity.

The region of King Parakaramabahu VI (1411-1466) who ruled from Kotte was a golden era in Sinhala literature. Some of the best poems in Sinhala like 'Kavyasekaraya' and 'Salalihini Sandeshaya' by Totagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera, 'Budugunalankaraya' by Vidagama Maithreeya Thera and 'Guttila Kavya' by Vattave Thera were produced during this period. The king himself was a patron of letters who composed a lexiographical poem 'Ruvanmala'. He gave a great impetus to literary activities. It was an era that gave a promise of a bright future in the literary field.

But it was not to be so. In the 16th century, when the Portuguese invaded Sri Lanka, there was a chaos and turmoil in the country. As a result of Portuguese occupation, a dark age set in for Sinhala literature. However, during the Portuguese times, there was one great poet who could be ranked among the foremost poets in the country. He was Alagiyavanna, one of the most popular Sinhala poets called the last of the classical poets. He is also considered as a poet who in some of his poems brought about a synthesis between classical poetry and Janakavi (folk poetry).

Alagiyavanna has presented four well known poems 'Dahamsondakava', 'Kusadakava', 'Savul Sandeshaya' and 'Subhashithaya'. Later Alagiyavanna became a Catholic convert and presented 'Kustantinu Hatana' a panegyric poem with a Christian background.

The most celebrated work of Alagiyavanna is 'Subashithaya' - words well spoken or wise sayings. It is a versified collection of aphorisms drawn from Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit and Tamil sources. Like Pali Dhammapada it contains maxims concerning practical life in a Buddhist background. It shows the influence of both classical poems and folk poetry. Subashithaya is one of the most popular and often quoted poems in Sinhala.

Kithunu Subashithaya is an exposition of Christianity mainly as related in Gospels. In this work Fr. Don Peter has closely followed 'Subashithaya' of Alagiyavanna in presentation, style and language. The presentation is lucid and intelligible. The language is simple and verses are on the same rhythm as in Subashithaya. As in Subashithaya, Kithunu Subashithaya too comprises of 100 verses.

The influence of "Kustantinu Hatana' is also seen in Kithunu Subashithaya. The poem begins with the worship of God and tenets of religion are explained before coming to the main theme. This is the order in Kustantinu Hatana as well.

The author at the outset in Kithunu Subashithaya pays homage to God and states that the purpose of the poem is to present teachings of Christ in verse. The next set of verses gives the proofs for the existence of God. The verses that follow deal with the Holy Trinity, the incarnation of Christ and the Gospels. How Blessed Virgin Mary became Mother of god is also described.

The life and teachings of Christ as related in the Gospels are presented from verses 25 to 96 - which is the main theme of the book. The verses 97 to 99 stresses the importance of spreading the teachings of Christ the good news all over the world. In the last verse, the verse 100 the author ends up by saying that he composed this poem in adoration of Christ - who is the incarnation of God and His teachings.

In this splendid poem, Fr. Don Peter magnificently presents the life and teachings of Christ in verse. This is a superb poem that contains Christianity in a nustshell. The author has succeeded to include the basic tenets of Christianity, all the important incidents in the life of Christ and the salient aspects of His teachings - all within just 100 verses. This indeed is a great, rare and wonderful achievement.

The verse in Kithunu Subashithaya are lucid, beautiful and fascinating. They appeal direct to the intellect. Although after every verse the meaning is explained in prose, in my view it is not necessary as the verses are simple and forceful.

In some instances apart from what is found in Gospels Fr. Don Peter outsteps to explain teachings of Christ and he has done it extremely well.

This is clearly seen in following verses.

In these verses Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter explains that among the followers of Christ, there were many women who were prepared to serve Him and sacrifice their career for God but Christ never conferred priesthood on women. As the privilege of bearing children were conferred only on women, the priesthood was exclusively conferred on men adds Fr. Don Peter.

There is no better way to expound Catholic position on priesthood for women in a manner so vivid, short, simple and forceful.

The relevant section of the Bible that formed the basis of each verse is given at the end of the book.

This is the first poem of its kind that presents Christianity in a nutshell in Sinhala and for that matter seldom found in any language. Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter has indeed filled a void in our Christian literature.

This is a poem that should find a place in every Catholic home. It could be used to instruct and edify the young on religion. The book is neatly printed in glossy paper with a coloured picture of Christ in the front cover. The book is priced at Rs. 30 but it is a priceless treasure for Catholics. It is available for sale at Catholic Bookshop, Colombo.

On Saturday August 22 and Sunday August 23, a lively Catholic community at Hiripokuna will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the consecration of their church. Hiripokuna is a hamlet seven miles off Bingiriya on the outskirts of Deduru Oya range.

Hiripokuna is one of the two churches dedicated to St. Helen in Sri Lanka whose name is written in golden letters in the history of the Catholic Church as the queen who discovered the Holy Cross many centuries after the crucifixion. She was also the mother of that illustrious emperor Contantine the Great, during whose reign the Roman Empire embraced Christianity.

Warnakulasuriya Kalugamage Zacharius Fernando of Wennappuwa who was better known as 'Jagarius Annavi' at the beginning of this century bought lands in the Deduru Oya range and cultivated them. He found the soil fertile and within a few years he became the proud owner of more than thousand acres of coconut. He also looked after the spiritual needs of the original families from Wennappuwa who settled down in the village and whenever possible got down a priest for Sunday Mass to his estate bungalow.

It is said that once when his wife Helena visited the estate she saw the Catholics assembled at the estate and requested the husband to build a church for them. Accordingly Zacharius Fernando built the present church in 1920 which was completed in 1923.

He dedicated this church to St. Helen, the patron saint of his beloved wife, who gave every encouragement and assistance to all his endeavours and also requested him to build the church. It is also said that the church was designed by one of his sons the late Charles Fernando.

In the land in which the church was built there was a pond called Hiripokuna and people began to call the church as Hiripokuna church. Later the whole village came to be known as Hiripokuna, named after the church.

Hiripokuna at that time formed a part of Deduru Oya jungles, where wild animals roamed freely. Even when the construction of the church was in progress, wild elephants were found in the church premises.

At that time there were no proper roads to Hiripokuna. When there was floods they had to cross the Kolamune Oya - a tributary of Deduru Oya with aid of ropes tied to trees on both banks of the river.

In 1923, when Archbishop Anthony Coudert came to consecrate the church, there were floods and he had to cross the river in padda boat with great difficulty. But when he went to the church it was a pleasant surprise to him and he had remarked that he never expected such a beautiful church in such a remote village.

When Archbishop Coudert consecrated the Hiripokuna church in August 1923, it came under the Chilaw parish of the Archdiocese of Colombo. The parish priest was Fr. J. M. Masson who later became the Archbishop of Colombo.

Mr. Zacharius Fernando donated 14 acres of land for the maintenance of the church. He also opened a school in the church premises for the children in the village.

After the death of Zacharius Annavi, his four sons managed the church till it was handed over to the Bishop of Chilaw in 1940, when the new Chilaw Diocese was formed. In 1987 when the Kurunegala District was taken out of the Diocese of Chilaw to form the Kurunegala Diocese, Hiripokuna came under Kurunegala Diocese.

The present school building in the church premises was donated by the late Chevalier John Fernando, the eldest son of Zacharius Fernando who was a philanthropist.

Today Hiripokuna forms a separate paris of its own with churches of Tissogama, Boraluweva, Kirindegama, Ottupallegama and Prasannagama under its wing.

At the initiative taken by the present parish priest Fr. Stanley Peiris, Hiripokuna church has been renovated for the diamond jubilee and it is one of the finest churches in Gothic style in Sri Lanka.

The festival Vespers would be sung on August 22 followed by the procession with the statue of St. Helen. The celebrations will culminate on Sunday August 23, with Mass offered by Dr. Raymon Pieris, the Bishop of Kurunegala.